Since their introduction, wireless communication systems including pagers, cellular telephones and low-tier radio telephones, have become increasingly popular. Such devices provide an extremely convenient means for communication.
Wireless telephone systems, for example, cellular telephones and low-tier radio telephones, are convenient because they allow their users to save time. The user of a wireless telephone unit need not waste time looking for an available telephone in order to place a call.
Perhaps more importantly, a wireless telephone unit allows its user to take advantage of time spent traveling. For example, with a wireless telephone, the user can be transacting business or making appointments while riding in a vehicle, walking down the street, or driving a car.
Another useful advance in the field of telephony is the invention of the speaker-phone. With a speaker-phone unit, the user speaks his or her comments aloud. The speaker-phone incorporates a relatively sensitive microphone, apart from the microphone in the handset, which transduces the user's comments. The speaker-phone then transmits those comments over the phone line in the conventional manner. Comments made by the other party to the phone call are produced by a speaker incorporated into the speaker-phone. In this manner, the user of a speakerphone has his or her hands free for other activities such as typing, note taking, etc. while engaging in the phone call. Speaker-phone units are now commonly used both at home and in the office.
As noted above, to maximize the advantages offered by a wireless telephone unit, the wireless unit should be useable while traveling, particularly while driving. As a user's hands are required for safe driving, it would be advantageous if a wireless telephone unit could be operated as a mobile speaker-phone. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus of using a wireless telephone as a mobile speaker-phone while driving an automobile, and a need for a method of manufacturing the same.